Enterprises begin embracing scalable small cell networks

Systems that can be installed in weeks address urgent need for reliable in-building coverage, capacity and services, say NEC and SpiderCloud

NEC Europe has announced that the company is seeing a growing market momentum and need for in-building coverage and capacity systems for medium to large enterprises.

NEC and SpiderCloud Wireless, a leading provider of scalable small cell Enterprise Radio Access Network (E-RAN) systems, are now engaged in numerous market trials with leading mobile operators across four continents.

SpiderCloud’s E-RAN enables a mobile operator-managed mobile access and services system for enterprise customers to be deployed rapidly; in days or weeks, compared with months or years for costly and complex Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS).

‘In the last six months alone, we have seen a rapid increase in the need for small cell systems that can scale beyond 7-10 access points,’ said Anil Kohli, Chief Marketing Officer, Global Small Cell Business. ‘With E-RAN we are able to address mobile operators’ requests to meet the needs of 10s of thousands of enterprise customers with a flexible system that can scale from 100 to 10,000 employees, and beyond.’

NEC and SpiderCloud are the first to offer a true multi-access, multi-mode system with 3G, LTE/4G and dual-band Wi-Fi for reliable indoor mobile services for enterprise customers of any size. The E-RAN system consists of a Services Node (SCSN) that can control over 100 self-organizing and multi-access 3G, Wi-Fi and LTE/4G small cells. SCNS can be installed in just days using an enterprise-Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) as a managed service by a mobile operator’s network.

‘The small cell market is maturing and starting to segment much like Wi-Fi did 10 years ago,’ said Russell Agle, director of business development with SpiderCloud Wireless. ‘The realization is setting in that individual small cells, or a mesh of small cells, made for residential or small business contexts simply cannot meet the in-building coverage, capacity and services needs of medium to large enterprises without requiring expensive and complex radio engineering.’

In a recent market study in which businesses revealed the growing issue of poor in-building mobile coverage and capacity, the majority of IT decision makers surveyed showed a willingness to move to a new mobile operator to solve this problem and showed great interest in additional operator-hosted services. For the survey results, go to www.spidercloud.com/yougov

‘We are seeing an enterprise-driven need for better in-building services,’ said Dimitris Mavrakis, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. ‘The opportunity exists for mobile operators to deliver managed mobility applications and services for the larger business community, something that an on-premises-based small cell system can enable after reliable coverage and capacity has been established.’

NEC and SpiderCloud Wireless are showcasing scalable small cell systems for mobile operators and enterprise customers at the upcoming Small Cells World Summit in London, 4-6June 2013.